The commander of the patrol ship was punished for the deaths of ten guards

The commander of the patrol ship was punished for the deaths of ten guards

18.05.2016

Far East district military court in Khabarovsk has sentenced a border guard commander of the ship Sergey Laskina to six years in prison for the death of ten subordinates, whose detention during a storm. His Deputy, passing on lighter paper, escaped punishment. Experts note that the determinant in establishing the guilt was how the defendants acted under the Charter.

The commander of the boundary ship Sergei Laskin received six years in a penal colony after the death of the ten other guards in the inspection detained for poaching vessel, reported the press Secretary of the far Eastern regional court Anna Tarasenkova, reports RIA “Novosti”.

In January 2014 in the territorial waters of Russia in the South Kuril Islands, was detained for illegal crab fishing vessel “Astor” under the flag of Sierra Leone. Ships anchored more than 600 metres from the shore (all occurred near the island of Kunashir).

The court found that Luskin gave the illegal order of the descent of the boats into the water despite the storm. As a result, the boat with the border guards turned over, all ten people were killed.

Weather conditions testified to the fact that to operate a boat was impossible, because the force of the wind reached 14 meters per second, height of waves reaches two meters. In this case there was no possibility of visual observation from the ship due to limited visibility. On that boat was no rescue equipment in sufficient quantity.

“The court found the commander of the ship Sergey Laskina guilty of excess of powers of office which have entailed causing of heavy consequences”, – said Troshenkova.

She added that he had been sentenced the Deputy commander of the ship Vladimir Bekasovo. He was convicted under the article “Violation of regulations on over service” and sentenced to eight months imprisonment, but in connection with the lapse of time relieved from liability.

Troshenkova reported that the court also has deprived of both convicted prisoners of the right to engage in activities associated with the management of crews and operation of water transport, for two years.

Under house arrest of Sergei Laskina withdrew from the courtroom in handcuffs, adds “Interfax – far East”.

Vladimir Bekasovo the court upheld the previous measure of restraint – recognizance not to leave until the sentence comes into legal force.

The court also satisfied the civil claims of victims about compensation of moral harm in the amount of 750 thousand to 1.5 million rubles.

According to the head of the Center of Maritime law Vasily Gutsulyak, the first sentence to six years in prison is too harsh in the conditions, when the commander had no intention to kill anyone.

“Such incidents I do not recall. It is clear that in the Navy the principle of unity of command. And, whatever happens with the ship, the responsibility of the captain… But I think that is unduly harsh sentence. It is also worth considering that we are not talking about civil and military fleet. The responsibility of the commander of such ship includes not only the Criminal code but also the relevant normative acts, the Charter,” he told the newspaper VIEW.

Commenting on the second sentence, Gutsulyak expressed the view that judges follow the letter of the law. Crimes have different degrees of severity. And if the actions of the Deputy commander of the ship belonged to a small severity, and in accordance with the classification of the act had a limited, shorter period of limitations, so he could not give more.

The head of the Department of labour inspection of the Russian seamen’s Union Sergei Fishov in turn, said the newspaper VIEW that the sentence the captain of the ship for similar civil actions against subordinates, in all probability, would have been different and probably less severe.

“The sailors of the Navy must act in accordance with the Charter. The commander or captain, of course, responsible for the lives of subordinates. And if it is established that he gave the order that led to death, did not foresee all the circumstances that turned a blind eye to the weather conditions, he must answer for it”, – said Fishof.

On the civilian fleet commanders, too, fell to the court after the death of his subordinates, he added. “For example, when the ship was tested for survivability. People were put in the boat, and the boat during a storm broke away, the people also died. But still the responsibility for civil and military fleet is different, everywhere has its own nuances”, – the expert believes.

Vasily Gutsulyak adds that in civil navigation and during the trials of the captains of civilian ships still usually takes into account more factors affecting the situation: “it is important not only to follow the Charter, also find out what kind of man that you are led to a particular action, etc.”. Head of the Center for law of the sea believes that the liability here is less severe.

We add that a year later after the tragic death of border guards in the Southern Kuril region in the village of Hot Beach on the island of Kunashir was a memorial stele with an anchor and a marble slab with the names of those killed in the line of duty.

Far Eastern portal Astv.ru restored to chronicle of tragedy almost constantly. 24 January 2014 at 18.00, the decision was made to send a border patrol ship detained on the ship “Astor”, which, according to operative data, carried out illegal extraction of crab, a boarding team.

This was lowered into the water ship boat RSPM-5/5 (4 points seaworthiness, Seating capacity – 8 persons capacity – 1300 kg). The intruder stood at anchor only two cables (approximately 370 metres) from the edge of the ship.

The boat with seven guards came to the pier of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, to take on Board three more members of the state marine inspection (that is, killed not only the border, but also the inspectors).

At 21.00 the boat, in which were ten men, came to the vessel-the infringer. Wave height at this time was about 1.3 meters.

At 22.15 from operational duty in southern-Kurilsk has received information that from-for deteriorations of weather conditions, lost contact with the boat, which at that time was approximately 600 m from the shore.

At 23.00 the commander of the boundary ship was launched to search for another boat, but the search brought no results.

In the first hour of the night January 25, border patrol “Patrol” found the body of one of the people who were in the boat – Anatoly Kuzmin. He was dead. Then found still alive Victor Nikolaev. But the hospital, without regaining consciousness, and he died. Later in the water without signs of life were found the bodies of the other people from the boat. They were mostly 25-30 years of contractors from different regions – the Saratov region, Stavropol, Mordovia, Sverdlovsk region, etc. in addition, killing of marine inspectors.

At the trial, which began in the beginning of 2016, was attended by relatives of the victims, who came from all over the country.

The father of Lieutenant Alexei Kornienko Vyacheslav told Astv.ru he has a lot of questions to those who not only sent children into the sea in a storm, but never came to their aid, when it became known about the emergency situation. “Captain PSKR cowardly and absolutely incompetent officer of the deck, when he realized that the boat, something happened that raised alarm in the Yuzhno-Kurilskaya Bay… On the roads stood more than ten vessels, which would lower the boat and not lost to many people. In any case, those who were wearing lifejackets, they would be alive. Found them within the first three hours. Our son we found 7 Mar. He was stripped to the waist and, most of all, fought to the end. But the water temperature did not leave big chances,” he said.

The mother of the contractor Sergey Meshcheryakov Larissa said that her 27-year-old son with his wife was just about to be transferred to the mainland. And about the incident at sea, the woman learned from friends, noting that “the command of the us never called”. The woman, after learning about the missing people in the sea, the same day I bought the tickets and went to the island.

Wife 24-year-old contractor from the Saratov region Victor Nikolaeva, Irina admitted that she was three months pregnant when it happened. “My husband took place just two weeks before its 25th anniversary,” – she said at the meeting in April.

Let us add that the last most resonant case of the death of the sailors on the civilian vessel was the loss of the fishing trawler “far East” in April of last year.